Our July 3 question is: What personal traits have you written into your character(s)?

I always incorporate many of my own traits and beliefs into my characters. In my short story that was published in Legacy Letters, my character was a procrastinator. So am I.

In The Last Daughter, I gave Trent Jones, the hero, more of my traits than the heroine, though I did make her a vegetarian. Trent (known as a picker) and his family owned antique stores, and frequented auctions, estate sales and garage sales—something I’ve always enjoyed doing. I’m a collector (or a packrat) of just about everything. It was fun showing Trent’s excitement over valuable (or interesting) items he came across, and what he could sell them for. By the way, The Last Daughter isn’t available any more. I have the rights back from The Wild Rose Press but I haven’t finished my revisions so I can get it back out there. Hopefully soon.

WHAT’s HAPPENING IN MY LIFE RIGHT NOW:

The days are zooming by. I’m getting older by the second. I’m a July girl—my birthday is the last day of the month. I never imagined getting old; I still can’t and here I am leaving 70 behind and turning 71. Of course, there was a time I couldn’t imagine being published either. Here are some wonderful things I’ve got going these days:

I speak at The Woodlands-ACFW on July 13th on article writing. I was supposed to have spoken in May but the weather was horrific from Louisiana to Houston so we postponed. I’m looking forward to visiting with this ACFW chapter.

Secondly, I sold an 800 word romance to Woman’s World magazine. It will be out around July 11th, maybe a little sooner. I titled it Summer Promise but according to the contract, the title has been changed to The Promise of New Love. I’m pretty excited about this sale. I’ve been trying to sell stories to them for years. Don’t ask me how I did it. I just hope I can do it again!

And that brings me to—I have a guest blogpost coming out some time in September telling everything I did to “crack the Woman’s World code.” Yeah, right! That’s a hoot! I’ll remind you so you can learn my secrets.

On another note, I just finished my second Christmas play for my church. (If you’d like to see my first Christmas play and my debut acting go to other media; Its posted there.) I haven’t submitted this new endeavor to our Music Minister so I have no idea if it’ll fly. It may not be joyful enough; or Christmas-y enough. Sometimes I tend to get too serious.

I guess that’s all the news I have except…maybe you’d like to sign up for my newsletter? It doesn’t really exist yet, but I took a great newsletter course called A What-to Course for Author newsletters and I’ve been wanting to create one ever since. So sign up if you will and I promise, I won’t bombard you with unnecessary news about me, Me, ME.

Last week hubby and I made a quick trip out of town to see family. When I leave home—my messy office, my books piled in every corner, the creative atmosphere (and dust) I breathe on a daily basis—I’m about as far away from writing as I can be—mentally and emotionally. It’s as if I’ve entered another dimension, one that drains me of my life blood. That sounds melodramatic—even to me—but it’s exactly the way I feel.

When we travel, I usually drive. Hubby can read, write, text, sleep … I can’t do any of those things without getting car sick so it makes sense that I drive. I can think.

There’s a specific anthology I want to submit to but the deadline is looming—April 15th and I haven’t had a pinch of an idea. On the way back to Louisiana, it hit me: my characters, the plot, the dialogue and the ending. I used to get all kinds of ideas while driving but never like this—never a complete story. I could see their faces. I could hear their voices. I could smell the flowers—wisteria— growing on their property.

I wrote it over and over in my head for four hours, listening to what the characters had to say. Watching them move. Four hours–that’s how long the trip is. The moment we unloaded and I settled onto my favorite corner of the sofa, I grabbed my laptop and captured the story. I couldn’t afford to lose my momentum. I wrote it in its entirety, then put it out of my mind for several days.

Would I like it when I went back to it? Would it make sense? Are there holes I can’t see? Is it too sparse?

I’ve tweaked, added a few things here and there, but I’m finished. I’ll be emailing it later this week.

I can’t help but marvel at how this story came to me, almost perfectly intact. What made it different from other trips and other stories? I haven’t a clue.

Tell me how you write—where? Do you write your short stories in snatches of time or all at once? Do you think about writing constantly or am I just obsessed? Do you ever put writing out of your mind? Tell me how and when you’re able to do that?

I’ve always wanted to write a series: short stories or novels. Haven’t done it yet. However, I have two Christmas stories available and in my mind, they’re a series. I call them my Gift of a Lifetime series. Today I learned my short story, A Child Was Born is FREE. Grab it while you can. If you like it, you might want to read If You Believe only 99 cents. Remember, these are short stories–not novels and not novellas. A Child Was Born is part of an anthology so you’ll actually get seven stories FREE.

When Marketing Assistant Bretta Richert helps tie up loose ends for the extravagant Louisiana Wedding Gala held that very night, she’s stunned to come face to face with her ex-fiance. Cory is back in town and worse, he’s a huge part of the Gala. Bretta has held grudges and nursed hurts for the past five years, but Cory acts as though they’ve never been apart. Can he explain why he never called or sent one measly post card? Should Bretta forgive and forget? Will she accept his gift of a lifetime?

When I signed up for A to Z Challenge this year, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. I planned to wing it—the way I did last year. But as soon as I sat down to write that first post, my theme became apparent: I’d write about my childhood and my family. I’ve had fun blogging about my loved ones, but I’m ready to move on and talk about writing again. Family Time is growing old and boring for me. And I’m beginning to repeat myself. I don’t like repetition!

So W is for Writing. This is what I’ve been doing alongside A to Z.

I wrote a short story specifically for Woman’s World. This time I got off my ‘duff’ and put it in the mail. I’m waiting … waiting … waiting … just like in the old days. Complete with SASE.Woman’s World doesn’t take email submissions.

I’m also working on a pitch to a Harlequin editor on May 8th. This will be sort of like speed dating: I pitch in 100 words or less and they tell me immediately whether they want to see a synopsis, a proposal or the complete novel. I really like this idea. This is the instant gratification thingie working. I’m pretty nervous about it, even though I have the pitch ready. I’ve been working on the first three chapters of the manuscript just in case the editor requests it. It’s a straight inspirational romance—no mystery or suspense. And I still have to write the synopsis. Arrghh!

My mind is working constantly on other things—revising, re-plotting, wondering if anything is any good. There’s so much I want to revamp. I don’t want to give up on any of my stories—even when I know I should move on to something fresh.

My novella came to me so easily. I wish all my stories came that fast—that complete. They don’t. I struggle.

Tell me about your writing. Do you have anything with an agent or editor? Or do you plan to ePub? Do you like today’s publishing world and how things have changed? Tell us about it.

Here’s a market for you just in case you don’t have anything to do:

FamilyCircle Magazine is now accepting submissions for their 2013 Fiction Contest. Submit your previously unpublished short story of no more than 2,500 words by September 16, 2013. There is no fee to enter and you could win the grand prize of $1,000 and publication in the magazine, plus other prizes. For all the details go here.